Temenos, Inc. and Association

Preserving Filmmaking

Film Restoration

ENIAIOS consists of a total of eighty hours of film. It can only be shown after the edited camera originals are restored and internegatives and projection copies produced. Temenos has mapped a timetable for all films to be restored and printed within the next eight years. The 22 cycles of ENIAIOS range in
length from two and a half hours to six hours. Each cycle is composed of three categories of film: mythic themes, portraiture, and films of place. Restoration and printing of four cycles will be completed in 2003. The goal is to restore and print two to three cycles each year and to complete the entire project by 2011.

Considered by film critics to be a master of visionary film, Markopoulos’s achievements have occupied a place in the history of filmmaking parallel to those of filmmakers Andy Warhol and Stan Brakhage. These three filmmakers were the foremost pioneers to invent new and individual ways of film production. They have created cinematic forms that have influenced the most advanced contemporary filmmaking practices in a narrative as well as poetic
and avant-garde film. The restoration of Markopoulos’s body of work allows us to understand his contribution to this parallel history of Film Art. Restoration of his films, and especially of his later unseen work ENIAIOS, is critical to both public and specialized understanding of his achievement.

The length of time available for the successful restoration and printing of the films are limited by the changes in film technology that are underway; laboratory costs are expected to increase significantly in the near future. Internegatives and projection copies must be produced while excellent labs are still available. Since 1993, the Temenos Archive has had a working relationship with John E. Allen, Cinema Arts, a laboratory specialized in film restoration and preservation. Markopoulos’s films contain the most complex montage in the history of film, and the restoration process requires careful repair of every splice and the preservation of each single film frame. It is a delicate and time-consuming operation similar to the restoration of a mosaic or fresco. A number of leading film restoration institutions and museums are being consulted to determine the most beneficial plan. These facilities include the Academy Film Archive in Beverly Hills, and the Austrian Film Museum in Vienna, among others. All of these institutions have already collaborated in restoration projects concerning the earlier
work of G.J. Markopoulos.

The restoration and printing of ENIAIOS-Cycles I-IV have been completed with the aid of a substantial gift from Georg und Bertha Schwyzer-WinikerFoundation. The printing of these four Cycles will allow the Temenos to present for the first time thirteen hours of this monumental work by G.J. Markopoulos. The projection copies of the first four cycles of ENIAIOS are entitled, in Greek

One internegative and at least one projection copy have been made of the following films by Gregory J. Markopoulos:

Despite being the first superhero film nominated for Best Picture, Black Panther fell short of winning the award, a loss that was quite the disappointment for one person long-associated with the Marvel brand.